Boundary Layer Turbulence and Orographic Precipitation Growth in Cold Clouds: Evidence from Profiling Airborne Radar Data

2011 ◽  
Vol 68 (10) ◽  
pp. 2344-2365 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bart Geerts ◽  
Qun Miao ◽  
Yang Yang
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Vertical Velocity ◽  
Radar Data ◽  
Windward Side ◽  
Inertial Subrange ◽  
Cloud Base ◽  
Orographic Precipitation ◽  
Turbulent Layer ◽  
Near Surface ◽  
Wide Range

Abstract Airborne vertically pointing Doppler radar data collected in 10 winter storms over the Medicine Bow Range in Wyoming are used to examine the importance of boundary layer (BL) turbulence for orographic precipitation growth. In all 10 cases, the cloud-base temperature was below 0°C and the bulk Froude number was more than 1.0, implying little or no blocking of the flow by the mountain barrier. Seven of the 10 storms sampled were postfrontal, with weak static stability and relatively shallow cloud tops. Doppler vertical velocity transects depict an approximately 1-km-deep turbulent layer draped over the terrain, sometimes clearly distinct from the stratified flow in the free troposphere aloft, where vertical motion is largely controlled by gravity wave dynamics. Spectral analysis of near-surface Doppler vertical velocity data in terrain-following coordinates reveals an inertial subrange with decreasing power with height toward the BL top. The composite of radar data profiles from the 10 flights is analyzed in frequency-by-altitude diagrams, with altitude expressed above ground level. These diagrams indicate a wide range of vertical velocities in the BL, and rapid snow growth within the BL as air rises through the cloud base, especially when BL turbulence is more intense. This snow growth is concentrated on the windward side of mountains, above the terrain–cloud base intersection. The dominant snow growth mechanism in the BL (i.e., by accretion or vapor deposition) cannot be established because of restrictions in aircraft flight level over complex terrain. Snow aggregation may have contributed to the observed rapid increase in reflectivity in the BL along the windward slope.

scholarly journals Meteorological responses in the atmospheric boundary layer over southern England to the deep partial eclipse of 20 March 2015

2016 ◽  
Vol 374 (2077) ◽  
pp. 20150214 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Burt
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Atmospheric Boundary Layer ◽  
Meteorological Parameter ◽  
Atmospheric Stability ◽  
Cloud Base ◽  
Atmospheric Effects ◽  
Near Surface ◽  
Southern England ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Instrumental Records

A wide range of surface and near-surface meteorological observations were made at the University of Reading’s Atmospheric Observatory in central southern England (latitude 51.441° N, longitude 0.938° W, altitude 66 m above mean sea level) during the deep partial eclipse on the morning of 20 March 2015. Observations of temperature, humidity, radiation, wind speed and direction, and atmospheric pressure were made by computerized logging equipment at 1 Hz, supplemented by an automated cloud base recorder sampling at 1 min intervals and a high-resolution (approx. 10 m vertical interval) atmospheric sounding by radiosonde launched from the same location during the eclipse. Sources and details of each instrumental measurement are described briefly, followed by a summary of observed and derived measurements by meteorological parameter. Atmospheric boundary layer responses to the solar eclipse were muted owing to the heavily overcast conditions which prevailed at the observing location, but instrumental records of the event documented a large (approx. 80%) reduction in global solar radiation, a fall in air temperature of around 0.6°C, a decrease in cloud base height, and a slight increase in atmospheric stability during the eclipse. Changes in surface atmospheric moisture content and barometric pressure were largely insignificant during the event. This article is part of the themed issue ‘Atmospheric effects of solar eclipses stimulated by the 2015 UK eclipse’.

Observations of Small-Scale Turbulence and Energy Dissipation Rates in the Cloudy Boundary Layer

2006 ◽  
Vol 63 (5) ◽  
pp. 1451-1466 ◽  
Author(s):  
Holger Siebert ◽  
Katrin Lehmann ◽  
Manfred Wendisch
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Energy Dissipation ◽  
Wind Velocity ◽  
Turbulence Theory ◽  
Horizontal Wind ◽  
Inertial Subrange ◽  
Intermittent Flow ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Dissipation Rates ◽  
Wide Range

Abstract Tethered balloon–borne measurements with a resolution in the order of 10 cm in a cloudy boundary layer are presented. Two examples sampled under different conditions concerning the clouds' stage of life are discussed. The hypothesis tested here is that basic ideas of classical turbulence theory in boundary layer clouds are valid even to the decimeter scale. Power spectral densities S( f ) of air temperature, liquid water content, and wind velocity components show an inertial subrange behavior down to ≈20 cm. The mean energy dissipation rates are ∼10−3 m2 s−3 for both datasets. Estimated Taylor Reynolds numbers (Reλ) are ∼104, which indicates the turbulence is fully developed. The ratios between longitudinal and transversal S( f ) converge to a value close to 4/3, which is predicted by classical turbulence theory for local isotropic conditions. Probability density functions (PDFs) of wind velocity increments Δu are derived. The PDFs show significant deviations from a Gaussian distribution with longer tails typical for an intermittent flow. Local energy dissipation rates ɛτ are derived from subsequences with a duration of τ = 1 s. With a mean horizontal wind velocity of 8 m s−1, τ corresponds to a spatial scale of 8 m. The PDFs of ɛτ can be well approximated with a lognormal distribution that agrees with classical theory. Maximum values of ɛτ ≈ 10−1 m2 s−3 are found in the analyzed clouds. The consequences of this wide range of ɛτ values for particle–turbulence interaction are discussed.

Buoyancy effects on large-scale motions in convective atmospheric boundary layers: implications for modulation of near-wall processes

2018 ◽  
Vol 856 ◽  
pp. 135-168 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. T. Salesky ◽  
W. Anderson
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Velocity Field ◽  
Boundary Layers ◽  
Vertical Velocity ◽  
Amplitude Modulation ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Streamwise Velocity ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Convective Conditions ◽  
Wide Range

A number of recent studies have demonstrated the existence of so-called large- and very-large-scale motions (LSM, VLSM) that occur in the logarithmic region of inertia-dominated wall-bounded turbulent flows. These regions exhibit significant streamwise coherence, and have been shown to modulate the amplitude and frequency of small-scale inner-layer fluctuations in smooth-wall turbulent boundary layers. In contrast, the extent to which analogous modulation occurs in inertia-dominated flows subjected to convective thermal stratification (low Richardson number) and Coriolis forcing (low Rossby number), has not been considered. And yet, these parameter values encompass a wide range of important environmental flows. In this article, we present evidence of amplitude modulation (AM) phenomena in the unstably stratified (i.e. convective) atmospheric boundary layer, and link changes in AM to changes in the topology of coherent structures with increasing instability. We perform a suite of large eddy simulations spanning weakly ($-z_{i}/L=3.1$) to highly convective ($-z_{i}/L=1082$) conditions (where$-z_{i}/L$is the bulk stability parameter formed from the boundary-layer depth$z_{i}$and the Obukhov length $L$) to investigate how AM is affected by buoyancy. Results demonstrate that as unstable stratification increases, the inclination angle of surface layer structures (as determined from the two-point correlation of streamwise velocity) increases from$\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FE}\approx 15^{\circ }$for weakly convective conditions to nearly vertical for highly convective conditions. As$-z_{i}/L$increases, LSMs in the streamwise velocity field transition from long, linear updrafts (or horizontal convective rolls) to open cellular patterns, analogous to turbulent Rayleigh–Bénard convection. These changes in the instantaneous velocity field are accompanied by a shift in the outer peak in the streamwise and vertical velocity spectra to smaller dimensionless wavelengths until the energy is concentrated at a single peak. The decoupling procedure proposed by Mathiset al.(J. Fluid Mech., vol. 628, 2009a, pp. 311–337) is used to investigate the extent to which amplitude modulation of small-scale turbulence occurs due to large-scale streamwise and vertical velocity fluctuations. As the spatial attributes of flow structures change from streamwise to vertically dominated, modulation by the large-scale streamwise velocity decreases monotonically. However, the modulating influence of the large-scale vertical velocity remains significant across the stability range considered. We report, finally, that amplitude modulation correlations are insensitive to the computational mesh resolution for flows forced by shear, buoyancy and Coriolis accelerations.

scholarly journals Wind-Driven Ageostrophic Transport in the North Equatorial Countercurrent of the Eastern Pacific at 95°W

2009 ◽  
Vol 39 (11) ◽  
pp. 2985-2998 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janet Sprintall ◽  
Sean Kennan ◽  
Yoo Yin Kim ◽  
Peter Niiler
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Turbulent Boundary Layer ◽  
Ekman Transport ◽  
Momentum Balance ◽  
Altimeter Data ◽  
Turbulent Stress ◽  
Wind Stress Curl ◽  
Turbulent Layer ◽  
Near Surface ◽  
The North

Abstract Observations of horizontal velocity from two shipboard acoustic Doppler current profilers (ADCPs), as well as wind, temperature, and salinity observations from a cruise during June–July 2001, are used to compute a simplified mean meridional momentum balance of the North Equatorial Countercurrent (NECC) at 95°W. The terms that are retained in the momentum balance and derived using the measurements are the Coriolis and pressure gradient forces, and the vertical divergence of the turbulent stress. All terms were vertically integrated over the surface turbulent layer. The K-profile parameterization (KPP) prescribed Richardson number (Ri) is used to determine the depth of the turbulent boundary layer h at which the turbulent stress and its gradient vanish. At the time of the cruise, surface drifters and altimeter data show the flow structure of the NECC was complicated by the presence of tropical instability waves to the south and a strong Costa Rica Dome to the north. Nonetheless, a consistent, simplified momentum balance for the surface layer was achieved from the time mean of 19 days of repeat transects along 95°W with a 0.5° latitude resolution. The best agreement between the ageostrophic transport determined from the near-surface cruise measurements and the wind-derived Ekman transport was obtained for an Ri of 0.23 ± 0.05. The corresponding h ranges from ∼55 m at 4°N to ∼30 m within the NECC core (4.5°–6°N) and shoaling to just 15 m at 7°N. In general, the mean ageostrophic and Ekman transports decreased from south to north along the 95°W transect, although within the core of the NECC both transports were relatively strong and steady. This study underscores the importance of the southerly wind-driven eastward Ekman transport in the turbulent boundary layer before the NECC becomes fully developed later in the year through indirect forcing from the wind stress curl.

scholarly journals Vertical Velocity Statistics in Fair-Weather Cumuli at the ARM TWP Nauru Climate Research Facility

2010 ◽  
Vol 23 (24) ◽  
pp. 6590-6604 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pavlos Kollias ◽  
Bruce Albrecht
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Numerical Models ◽  
Radar Data ◽  
Cloud Fraction ◽  
Cloud Base ◽  
Fair Weather ◽  
Research Facility ◽  
Climate Research ◽  
Velocity Statistics ◽  
Air Motion

Abstract Fair-weather cumuli are fundamental in regulating the vertical structure of water vapor and entropy in the lowest 2–3 km of the earth’s atmosphere over vast areas of the oceans. In this study, a long record of profiling cloud radar observations at the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program (ARM) Climate Research Facility (ACRF) at Nauru Island is used to investigate cloud vertical air motion statistics over an 8-yr observing period. Appropriate processing of the observed low radar reflectivities provides radar volume samples that contain only small cloud droplets; thus, the Doppler velocities are used as air motion tracers. The technique is applied to shallow boundary layer clouds (less than 1000 m thick) during the 1999–2007 period when radar data are available. Using the boundary layer winds from the soundings obtained at the Nauru ACRF, the fair-weather cumuli fields are classified in easterly and westerly boundary layer wind regimes. This distinction is necessary to separate marine-forced (westerlies) from land-forced (easterlies) shallow clouds because of a well-studied island effect at the Nauru ACRF. The two regimes exhibit large diurnal differences in cloud fraction and cloud dynamics as manifested by the analysis of the hourly averaged vertical air motion statistics. The fair-weather cumuli fields associated with easterlies exhibit a strong diurnal cycle in cloud fraction and updraft strength and fraction, indicating a strong influence of land-forced clouds. In contrast over the fair-weather cumuli with oceanic origin, land-forced clouds are characterized by uniform diurnal cloudiness and persistent updrafts at the cloud-base level. This study provides a unique observational dataset appropriate for testing fair-weather cumulus mass flux and turbulence parameterizations in numerical models.

Observed Boundary Layer Controls on Shallow Cumulus at the ARM Southern Great Plains Site

2018 ◽  
Vol 75 (7) ◽  
pp. 2235-2255 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neil P. Lareau ◽  
Yunyan Zhang ◽  
Stephen A. Klein
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Great Plains ◽  
Vertical Velocity ◽  
Mass Flux ◽  
Cloud Base ◽  
Liquid Water Path ◽  
Southern Great Plains ◽  
Clear Sky ◽  
Shallow Cumulus ◽  
In Situ Sensors

Abstract The boundary layer controls on shallow cumulus (ShCu) convection are examined using a suite of remote and in situ sensors at ARM Southern Great Plains (SGP). A key instrument in the study is a Doppler lidar that measures vertical velocity in the CBL and along cloud base. Using a sample of 138 ShCu days, the composite structure of the ShCu CBL is examined, revealing increased vertical velocity (VV) variance during periods of medium cloud cover and higher VV skewness on ShCu days than on clear-sky days. The subcloud circulations of 1791 individual cumuli are also examined. From these data, we show that cloud-base updrafts, normalized by convective velocity, vary as a function of updraft width normalized by CBL depth. It is also found that 63% of clouds have positive cloud-base mass flux and are linked to coherent updrafts extending over the depth of the CBL. In contrast, negative mass flux clouds lack coherent subcloud updrafts. Both sets of clouds possess narrow downdrafts extending from the cloud edges into the subcloud layer. These downdrafts are also present adjacent to cloud-free updrafts, suggesting they are mechanical in origin. The cloud-base updraft data are subsequently combined with observations of convective inhibition to form dimensionless “cloud inhibition” (CI) parameters. Updraft fraction and liquid water path are shown to vary inversely with CI, a finding consistent with CIN-based closures used in convective parameterizations. However, we also demonstrate a limited link between CBL vertical velocity variance and cloud-base updrafts, suggesting that additional factors, including updraft width, are necessary predictors for cloud-base updrafts.

Optimal energy growth in stably stratified turbulent Couette flow

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Grigory Zasko ◽  
Andrey Glazunov ◽  
Evgeny Mortikov ◽  
Yuri Nechepurenko ◽  
Pavel Perezhogin
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Turbulent Flow ◽  
Couette Flow ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Thin Layers ◽  
Plane Couette Flow ◽  
Turbulent Layer ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Optimal Disturbances

<p>In this report, we will try to explain the emergence of large-scale organized structures in stably stratified turbulent flows using optimal disturbances of the mean turbulent flow. These structures have been recently obtained in numerical simulations of turbulent stably stratified flows [1] (Ekman layer, LES) and [2] (plane Couette flow, DNS and LES) and indirectly confirmed by field measurements in the stable boundary layer of the atmosphere [1, 2]. In instantaneous temperature fields they manifest themselves as irregular inclined thin layers with large gradients (fronts), spaced from each other by distances comparable to the height of the entire turbulent layer, and separated by regions with weak stratification.</p><p>Optimal disturbances of a stably stratified turbulent plane Couette flow are investigated in a wide range of Reynolds and Richardson numbers. These disturbances were computed based on a simplified linearized system of equations in which turbulent Reynolds stresses and heat fluxes were approximated by isotropic viscosity and diffusion with coefficients obtained from DNS results. It was shown [3] that the spatial scales and configurations of the inclined structures extracted from DNS data coincide with the ones obtained from optimal disturbances of the mean turbulent flow.</p><p>Critical value of the stability parameter is found starting from which the optimal disturbances resemble inclined structures. The physical mechanisms that determine the evolution, energetics and spatial configuration of these optimal disturbances are discussed. The effects due to the presence of stable stratification are highlighted.</p><p>Numerical experiments with optimal disturbances were supported by the RSF (grant No. 17-71-20149). Direct numerical simulation of stratified turbulent Couette flow was supported by the RFBR (grant No. 20-05-00776).</p><p>References:</p><p>[1] P.P. Sullivan, J.C. Weil, E.G. Patton, H.J. Jonker, D.V. Mironov. Turbulent winds and temperature fronts in large-eddy simulations of the stable atmospheric boundary layer // J. Atmos. Sci., 2016, V. 73, P. 1815-1840.</p><p>[2] A.V. Glazunov, E.V. Mortikov, K.V. Barskov, E.V. Kadantsev, S.S. Zilitinkevich. Layered structure of stably stratified turbulent shear flows // Izv. Atmos. Ocean. Phys., 2019, V. 55, P. 312–323.</p><p>[3] G.V. Zasko, A.V. Glazunov, E.V. Mortikov, Yu.M. Nechepurenko. Large-scale structures in stratified turbulent Couette flow and optimal disturbances // Russ. J. Num. Anal. Math. Model., 2010, V. 35, P. 35–53.</p>

scholarly journals Stratified Inertial Subrange Inferred from In Situ Measurements in the Bottom Boundary Layer of the Rockall Channel

2010 ◽  
Vol 40 (11) ◽  
pp. 2401-2417 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pascale Bouruet-Aubertot ◽  
Hans van Haren ◽  
M. Pascale Lelong
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Energy Levels ◽  
Deep Ocean ◽  
Energy Dissipation Rate ◽  
Bottom Boundary Layer ◽  
Inertial Subrange ◽  
Buoyancy Frequency ◽  
Bottom Boundary ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Taylor Hypothesis

Abstract Deep-ocean high-resolution moored temperature data are analyzed with a focus on superbuoyant frequencies. A local Taylor hypothesis based on the horizontal velocity averaged over 2 h is used to infer horizontal wavenumber spectra of temperature variance. The inertial subrange extends over fairly low horizontal wavenumbers, typically within 2 × 10−3 and 2 × 10−1 cycles per minute (cpm). It is therefore interpreted as a stratified inertial subrange for most of this wavenumber interval, whereas in some cases the convective inertial subrange is resolved as well. Kinetic energy dissipation rate ε is inferred using theoretical expressions for the stratified inertial subrange. A wide range of values within 10−9 and 4 × 10−7 m2 s−3 is obtained for time periods either dominated by semidiurnal tides or by significant subinertial variability. A scaling for ε that depends on the potential energy within the inertio-gravity waves (IGW) frequency band PEIGW and the buoyancy frequency N is proposed for these two cases. When semidiurnal tides dominate, ε ≃ (PEIGWN)3/2, whereas ε ≃ PEIGWN in the presence of significant subinertial variability. This result is obtained for energy levels ranging from 1 to 30 times the Garrett–Munk energy level and is in contrast with classical finescale parameterization in which ε ∼ (PEIGW)2 that applies far from energy sources. The specificities of the stratified bottom boundary layer, namely a weak stratification, may account for this difference.

scholarly journals Observation of Turbulent Mixing Characteristics in the Typical Daytime Cloud-Topped Boundary Layer over Hong Kong in 2019

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (9) ◽  
pp. 1533 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tao Huang ◽  
Steve Hung-lam Yim ◽  
Yuanjian Yang ◽  
Olivia Shuk-ming Lee ◽  
David Hok-yin Lam ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Hong Kong ◽  
Vertical Velocity ◽  
Turbulent Mixing ◽  
Wind Shear ◽  
Vertical Wind Shear ◽  
Vertical Wind ◽  
Surface Heating ◽  
Cloud Base ◽  
Radiative Cooling

Turbulent mixing is critical in affecting urban climate and air pollution. Nevertheless, our understanding of it, especially in a cloud-topped boundary layer (CTBL), remains limited. High-temporal resolution observations provide sufficient information of vertical velocity profiles, which is essential for turbulence studies in the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL). We conducted Doppler Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) measurements in 2019 using the 3-Dimensional Real-time Atmospheric Monitoring System (3DREAMS) to reveal the characteristics of typical daytime turbulent mixing processes in CTBL over Hong Kong. We assessed the contribution of cloud radiative cooling on turbulent mixing and determined the altitudinal dependence of the contribution of surface heating and vertical wind shear to turbulent mixing. Our results show that more downdrafts and updrafts in spring and autumn were observed and positively associated with seasonal cloud fraction. These results reveal that cloud radiative cooling was the main source of downdraft, which was also confirmed by our detailed case study of vertical velocity. Compared to winter and autumn, cloud base heights were lower in spring and summer. Cloud radiative cooling contributed ~32% to turbulent mixing even near the surface, although the contribution was relatively weaker compared to surface heating and vertical wind shear. Surface heating and vertical wind shear together contributed to ~45% of turbulent mixing near the surface, but wind shear can affect up to ~1100 m while surface heating can only reach ~450 m. Despite the fact that more research is still needed to further understand the processes, our findings provide useful references for local weather forecast and air quality studies.

Measuring the variability of the shallow convective mass flux profiles in the tropical trade wind region

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcus Klingebiel ◽  
Heike Konow ◽  
Bjorn Stevens
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Vertical Velocity ◽  
Mass Flux ◽  
Doppler Radar ◽  
Cloud Fraction ◽  
Cloud Base ◽  
Trade Wind ◽  
Geophysical Research ◽  
Wind Region ◽  
Convective Mass Flux

<p>Mass flux is a key parameter to represent shallow convection in global circulation models. To estimate the shallow convective mass flux as accurately as possible, observations of this parameter are necessary. Prior studies from Ghate et al. (2011) and Lamer et al. (2015) used Doppler radar measurements over a few months to identify a typical shallow convective mass flux profile based on cloud fraction and vertical velocity. In this study, we extend their observations by using long term remote sensing measurements at the Barbados Cloud Observatory (13° 09’ N, 59° 25’ W) over a time period of 30 months and check a hypothesis by Grant (2001), who proposed that the cloud base mass flux is just proportional to the sub-cloud convective velocity scale. Therefore, we analyze Doppler radar and Doppler lidar measurements to identify the variation of the vertical velocity in the cloud and sub-cloud layer, respectively. Furthermore, we show that the in-cloud mass flux is mainly influenced by the cloud fraction and provide a linear equation, which can be used to roughly calculate the mass flux in the trade wind region based on the cloud fraction.</p><p> </p><p>References:<br>Ghate,  V.  P.,  M.  A.  Miller,  and  L.  DiPretore,  2011:   Vertical  velocity structure of marine boundary layer trade wind cumulus clouds. Journal  of  Geophysical  Research: Atmospheres, 116  (D16), doi:10.1029/2010JD015344.</p><p>Grant,  A.  L.  M.,  2001:   Cloud-base  fluxes  in  the  cumulus-capped boundary layer. Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, 127 (572), 407–421, doi:10.1002/qj.49712757209.</p><p>Lamer, K., P. Kollias, and L. Nuijens, 2015:  Observations of the variability  of  shallow  trade  wind  cumulus  cloudiness  and  mass  flux. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 120  (12), 6161–6178, doi:10.1002/2014JD022950.</p>

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